Language Policy, ‘Asia's World City’ and Anglophone Hong Kong Writing (original) (raw)
Related papers
Two Sociological Perspectives on the New Language Policy in Hong Kong
2000
After Britain returned control of Hong Kong to China in July 1997, a new language policy required all schools to switch their teaching medium from English to Chinese in September 1998. Those schools that wanted to continue to teach in English had to obtain special permission. Only 100 of 400 schools successfully obtained such permission. This clash over the language of instruction sparked heated debate in Hong Kong. This paper looks at this new language policy from two major sociological perspectives: structural functionalism and conflict theory. First, from the structuralist-functionalist perspective, it is argued that mother-tongue education (using Chinese) should be promoted in all schools because it can improve students' academic performance and interest. Second, from the conflict theory perspective, it is argued that the decision to allow 100 schools to keep teaching in English would perpetuate social inequality in Hong Kong society. It is concluded, therefore, that all secondary education in Hong Kong should be conducted in Chinese. (Contains 18 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Bilingual Education in Hong Kong
In: Stephen May, Ofelia Garcia & Angel Lin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Bilingual Education. Springer.
The field of bilingual education in Hong Kong provides a perfect window to study transformation of education in the context of wider processes of economic, institutional, political, sociolinguistic and cultural changes. As Hong Kong changed from a former British colony to a Special Administrative Region (SAR, hereafter) of the People’s Republic of China, the space of language education has seen the overlapping of old and new ideas regarding what languages should be learned or taught, by whom, when and to what degree. Such ideas and the related policies which have contributed to their institutionalisation cannot be detached from shifting conditions as to who gets to decide what language repertoires are attributed value in which sociolinguistic markets vis-à-vis local and trans-local processes of destabilization of the modern politics of language and culture. This entry traces major works that have reported and described these processes, with attention to their implications for the existing language-in-education policies and practices in contemporary Hong Kong.
Language in Education: Hard Choices for Hong Kong
1989
A discussion of Chinese-and English-medium instruction in Hong Kong schools, particularly at the levels of secondary and higher education, focuses on recent recommendations for improved instruction and articulation. The discussion is presented in two parts. The first presents the response of the University of Hong Kong's Language Centre to the Hong Kong education department's report on language improvement in education. This part outlines recommendations for action to improve equality of educational opportunity and academic standards through language policy. Issues concerning opportunity addressed here include the threat of exodus from Chinese-medium public secondary schools, perceived elitism in English-medium instruction, students' choice of language medium, and career and academic prospects related to language medium of education. Concerning academic standards, issues include improvement of secondary school language instruction, instruction in English for academic purposes, and maintenance and enhancement of language standards in the higher education sector. The second part reports on a staff roundtable discussion of those issues. Areas of concern include the use of an independent body to implement recommendations, potential for intensifying elitism in the schools, college preparatory programs, and the option of gradual rather than intensive exposure to English-medium instruction. (MSE)
Hong Kong ceased to be a colony of Britain on June 30 th , 1997, thus entering a new stage of its development and evolution as a uniquely-constituted city state and urban metropolis. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (HKSAR) inherited a linguistic ecology that owed much to its previous existence as a British colony, where the Chinese language had had no de jure status until 1974. From 1995, the stated policy of government has been to promote a "biliterate" (Chinese and English) and "trilingual" (Cantonese, Putonghua and English) society, and various measures have also been taken to promote the use of Chinese as a medium of instruction in schools. Immediately after the change in sovereignty, Putonghua became a compulsory school subject for the first time. This paper will examine the issue of language planning and policies partly from an historical perspective, but also through a consideration of current policies and practices across a range of domains, including government, law and education. One major conclusion that emerges from this discussion is that, from a language policy perspective, the relationship between Chinese and English in the Hong Kong context is potentially far less contentious than that between Cantonese and Putonghua.
Harwood, C. & Lai, C. (2017). Linguistic capital: Language medium of instruction policy in Hong Kong
Language Problems Language Planning, 2017
This article discusses the effects of Hong Kong’s language policy changes in education since China reclaimed the territory in 1997. It describes Hong Kongers’ perceptions of English and their mother tongue Cantonese, and considers the effects of the Cantonese medium of instruction (CMI) policy, which was introduced to promote biliteracy and trilingualism1 among Hong Kongers. The analysis shows that even though CMI results in deeper learning in Hong Kong students, the strength and status of English as the lingua franca in the territory remains strong, and access to the linguistic capital English brings remains restricted to those with financial capital to afford it. Keywords: English, Hong Kong, language policy, Cantonese, lingua franca
Gist Education and Learning Research Journal, 2010
This paper reports a study of the effectiveness of the mandatory mother-tongue education policy in post-colonial Hong Kong. Special attention has been placed on students' academic achievement before and after the policy implementation in 1998 in order to find out if students learn better through their mother tongue without sacrificing their knowledge of the English language. A content analysis has been conducted on the relevant policy documents, and students' public examination results have been gathered to serve as a policy-effectiveness indicator. Findings reveal that mother-tongue education is beneficial to students' learning in some subjects, especially the language-intensive ones. However, students' performance in English learning has been adversely affected by the policy. We end with suggestions in response to the recently announced finetuning arrangements of the mother-tongue education policy.
TITLE EL 2-Medium Education in a Largely Monolingual Society : The Case of Hong Kong
2007
English is used as a second-language (EL2) medium of instruction In a wide range of developing countries, notably in East and South Asia, the Middle East, and many parts of Africa, often in the face of a vigorous resurgence of indigenous and regional cultures and languages. A discussion of this situation illastrates some of the social, political, and educational factors that make the implementaton of EL2-medium educational policies problematic for develoF.ng countries. The discussion then looks into the case of Hong Kong, with its particular linguistic and socio-political situation, and the implications of an EL2-medium education system for an ostensibly egalitarian education policy. The discussion concludes by examining recent attempts by language planners and educators in Hong Kong, in both secondary and higher education, to make the education system more responsive to the sociolinguistic and educational requirements and realities in the territory while retaining a strong EL2-medi...
This paper reports on the results of a large-scale survey of the attitudes of students, teachers , and parents towards the use of English as a medium of instruction in Hong Kong secondary schools, where Chinese is the native language of the great majority of the students. The findings indicate that, while Hong Kong is to revert to Chinese rule in the middle of 1997, students and their parents consistently value English over Chinese as a teaching medium for pragmatic reasons, although they agree with the teachers that instruction in Chi-nese is educationally more effective. The findings of the study are interpreted in the light of an historical overview of the place of English in Hong Kong education since Britain's occupation of the territory in 1841, and a review of previous findings on the attitudes of students, teachers, and parents on this issue.
The discourse and attitudes of English language teachers in Hong Kong
World Englishes, 2000
This paper suggests that Hong Kong English, insofar as it varies from Standard English, has not achieved wide acceptance in the community. The paper approaches this by investigating the attitudes of Hong Kong's English language teachers. Over a thousand messages on language issues to a computer network for English teachers were analysed, in terms of their discourse and the sources of authority the teachers referred to in support of their views on correctness or acceptability. 1 The sources regarded as most authoritative were dictionaries and grammar or usage books from native speaking countries such as Britain. Hong Kong sources such as textbooks and the media were treated with more caution, and sometimes criticised. The model of English the teachers adopted was clearly exonormative. The term Hong Kong English did not occur anywhere in the 1,234 messages, and no deviations from a native speaker norm were referred to favourably. The paper concludes that these attitudes, similar to those in the business community, will constrain the use of Hong Kong English for formal communication. THE LANGUAGE SITUATION IN HONG KONG In Hong Kong, approximately 96% of the population is Chinese. 2 According to a sociolinguistic survey conducted in 1993, 81.6% of the population spoke Cantonese as their mother tongue and 91.9% could speak Cantonese. Only 1.3% were native speakers of English (see Bacon-Shone and Bolton, 1998: 73, 75). Since then, Cantonese has spread even wider. According to the 1996 By-Census, 88.7% of the population indicated that Cantonese is their usual spoken language, and 3.1% indicated English. For social communication between Cantonese speakers and speakers of other Chinese dialects, for example, immigrants from the People's Republic of China (PRC) mainland, Cantonese is the lingua franca. However, for formal communication with government officials in the PRC, especially since 1997, as well as for formal events at national level in Hong Kong, Putonghua is often the lingua franca. For business communication, the lingua franca is whichever language is shared by both parties, Cantonese or Putonghua. This is unlike the situation in Malaysia, Singapore or India, where English is the main lingua franca between different ethnic and linguistic groups. On the other hand, the government's policy is that Hong Kong people should become trilingual in spoken Cantonese, Putonghua and English and biliterate in written Chinese and English. The bilingual population has increased considerably, mainly through the introduction of mass education in the seventies. According to Bacon-Shone and Bolton (1998: 76), the percentage of the population who reported that they knew English quite well, well and very well rose from 6.6% in 1983 to 33.7% in 1993, and to 38.1% in 1996 (see Bolton, this issue). There is more and more demand for knowledge of other languages, especially English, in the employment sector. English is actually used for much written communication among Cantonese speakers, for example, business letters, internal memos